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a slice of life
a slice of life

December Books of the Week

Well, it’s our last book of the week post for 2020 and I have decided to not continue with sharing a book for each week into 2021.  Instead, we’ll mix it up a little bit and I’ll just share some favorites from a variety of categories, including books.  I love my resource library, though, and I’m glad I shared 52 of my favorite books with you last year!  It gave me an excuse to visit some old favorites and to purchase some new ones to review. Here are the books I picked to finish out the year… The Painted Art Journal I love just about everything that comes from Jeanne Oliver.  I bought her ruffled camera bag and some clothes from her website about 10 years ago!  Since then, I have followed her creative journey and we even met up for coffee when her family was visiting Gettysburg, PA.  She

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January 13, 2021 6 Comments
a slice of life

Christmas 2020 recap

While our Christmas break was quiet and slow, it was also full.  We have spent Christmas with family some years, but it’s not out of the ordinary for it to just be the four of us, so this year didn’t feel sad or lonely.  We did miss the school Christmas concert and church staff Christmas party, but it was still a sweet season.  We ordered our yearly Christmas Eve breakfast out and ate it at home.  We had our candlelight Christmas Eve service on the sofa in our jammies.  We watched movies at home instead of going to the theatre.  We met with our family over Zoom to open presents and play games.  But we still had a wonderful time of celebration, reflection, and rest. (Yes, the top string of lights burnt out just before Christmas!  Ugh!) And Christmas morning was still a flurry of activity and excitement as the

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January 5, 2021 22 Comments
a slice of life

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Song

About 8 years ago, I snuck off into another room a couple of days before Christmas and played the guitar and sang I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas for my blog readers. Unfortunately, that video was accidentally deleted a few years ago. Since that first song, we’ve done a song for Christmas almost every year.  We’ve done duets, group songs with friends and family involving preschool toys, kazoos, and popcorn-tin drums. It’s been so much fun and I know my blog followers have enjoyed seeing that different side of me (and seeing more of my family.)  Every year, I receive messages asking if I’m going to do a Christmas song and I try to pick a fun song that we can perform for you. I didn’t last year because I was recovering from shoulder surgery, but I felt like this year needed a song.  It’s been quite the year! We

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December 23, 2020 118 Comments
a slice of life

The perfect cup of coffee with Storyville

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by.  As always, all words and opinions are honest and my own.  You can read more about sponsored posts HERE. When reached out to me about trying their coffee and coffee-making gear, I told them that they had the right house, but the wrong person.  I am not a coffee drinker.  I wish I were because it looks so comforting on cold days or when you need a pick-me-up.  But, Jeff loves coffee and drinks enough for both of us.  I might consider it to be one of his hobbies!  He’s always on the lookout for a better cup of coffee.  Needless to say, he was more than excited when a few boxes arrived at our house from Seattle labeled “Storyville”. If you’re not familiar with , let me tell you a bit about it.  Storyville is a Seattle-based artisan coffee roaster who might be

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December 16, 2020 29 Comments
a slice of life

November 2020 Books of the Week

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Ours was full and busy with church stuff – I played and sang in the band this week and worked on the painted murals (I shared about the Storybook Christmas on IG Stories a few weeks ago) and Jeff & the boys spent time at the church painting wood for the supports.  I’m basically ready for a real weekend now!  But, I have a full week with decorating the tree (finally), working on blog posts, and getting more paintings done to sneak in one more art sale before Christmas.  I’m sure many of you are experiencing similar schedules as we approach the holidays! Anyway, today I’m going to share the books of the week for November! I have absolutely devoured this landscape painting book!  It’s a different style than some of my other landscape painting books and I’ve enjoyed studying the loose, more

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December 7, 2020 1 Comment
a slice of life

Christmas Gift Guide for the Neatnik

After reading this post, you might be glad you’re not on my Christmas list!  I actually have given steam mops as gifts before, because I think they are so awesome.  But, I’m one of those people who enjoys cleaning (most of the time.)  It’s a good time for me to think and I almost always get inspired when I’m cleaning.  I also love being productive and watching a room transformation from messy and fuzzy to clean and neat.  If you get it, you get it.  And, if you get it, here is a gift guide for my fellow neatniks… I think some things on this gift guide would make nice hostess gifts and stocking stuffers, especially crochet dishcloths and Swedish brushes, but some of these are just good gifts to give yourself to make cleaning a little more enjoyable or easy during the holidays and into the new year.  

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December 1, 2020 32 Comments
a slice of life

cleaning a set of antique pastels

When I shared about antique and vintage art supplies in THIS POST, I also did a bit of window shopping to share some listings on Etsy and eBay.  Well, my window shopping turned into actual shopping when I found this set of antique pastels listed for a great price.  It was purchased by the seller at an estate sale in Scotland and it just spoke to me.  I snapped it right up! Unfortunately, when it arrived, it wasn’t packaged as well as it could’ve been and one of the pastels (it looked like black or close to black) was pulverized and made quite a mess.  It was all over the inside the of the box, the bubble wrap and the interior of the box.  I receievd a partial refund from the seller for the damage to the set, which I was happy with.  I now had to go about cleaning

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November 18, 2020 44 Comments
a slice of life

Gift Guide for the Creative

As the holidays are approaching, I thought I would share a few of my favorite things in various categories in case you need a little help with some Christmas shopping.  I’m often asked about the supplies I used in my studio, office, and sewing room, so here is a round-up of a few things that would make nice gifts for the creatives in your family (or perhaps to put on your own list!)  Here is my Christmas shopping gift guide for the creative…   Gift Guide for the Creative | Stocking Stuffers If I wasn’t able to buy tools, supplies, and materials as a business expense, my stocking would be stuffed with pencils, paper, little notebooks, brushes, and other fun goodies to use when creating.  I rounded up a few of my favorite little things here… All of the products are featured in the slider below, but here are the

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November 16, 2020 23 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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